1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lighters and, more particularly, to child-resistant lockable lighters.
2. Description of the Related An
Prior art child-resistant cigarette lighters and safety lighters have the following drawbacks:
1. They have locking mechanisms which are very complicated and the locking reliability of which is not high.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,731, issued to Pan Hsim-Chung on Dec. 21, 1993, discloses an automatically lockable safety lighter which has a very complicated actuating lever and top frame. When a child plays with this prior lighter, the actuating lever may still be pushed forwardly to a released condition, and the lighter may ignite. The mechanism of this prior lighter may be permit a spark wheel of an igniting means to be rotated, thus producing sparks, which could result in ignition of an inflammable substance other than the fuel of the lighter.
2. U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,351, issued Aug. 17, 1993 to Andrew, discloses a safety interlock for a cigarette lighter which has a very complicated safety interlocking means. A safety handle leaf spring is mounted on the lighter on the exterior of a lighter case and can be inadvertently displaced into a released position, thus resulting in the lighter being ignited, and also normal igniting operation may be obstructed when such a lighter is used. Also, inconvenience may be caused when storing or handling such a lighter, because of its large volume, which requires additional space for such a specially-constructed lighter, for example in a purse or a pocket.
The prior locking mechanisms are difficult to manufacture and, in fact, some cannot even be manufactured. For example, the top frame disclosed in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,731 cannot be manufactured, because a guide slot on the inside of the top frame cannot be moulded or milled, since a core cannot be taken out of the top frame after moulding and, in the case of milling, the milling cutter cannot be advanced. A leaf spring and a guide sheath disclosed in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,351 are also difficult to manufacture.
Owing to the fact that the prior art locking mechanisms are very complicated and hard to manufacture, the cost of production is correspondingly high.